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Re: Living Like a Nica

Here's my perspective. I ended up reading the e-book after the fact. Meaning that I had already experienced Nicaragua and know first had how Nica's live. I found the book to be 100% factual. But it's important to understand that I have yet to meet a westerner in Nicaragua that was willing to (fully) live at those standards. Some take on the aspects they pick and choose as they relate to what's is written in the book. Also it's important to understand that the book is not a blueprint for living in Nicaragua, but rather a guide line to what's possible. The book is a promotion of ideas only based on how many locals live.

I have personally proven many of the subjects covered in the book allowing me to easily state that the subject covered in the book for the most part can and does work if one truly applies what is suggested. Again the content is just that suggestions for living and how to make it work.

It's about if they can do it, you can to. But like I was saying earlier that as a westerner you probably can't handle truly living full on like a Nicaraguan that has little money, whether or not it's in the city or the country.

Even Nicaraguans have higher expectations for us as gringo's to be able to live better than their poorest. Case in point, When I bought my over priced (washing machine) $4.00 US, I was jazzed and had fun bragging to my US friends that I just bought a washing machine for $4.00 . The reality was that I bought a wooden hand carved wash board, my US friends and family really didn't give a hoot because they know I'm wacked anyhow and didn't even indulge in a comment. On the other hand my Nica friends were shocked and in a very strange way, they were embarrassed for me that I was doing my own laundry the way they have to for the most part and thought that I should be acting more like a gringo and pay to have someone else do it or buy a modern washing machine.
They call me grino/nica because they learned that I have no problem living like they do no matter what the level.

This is why you will see crazy quotes by places like International Living on what it takes to live in the 3rd world, it's never based on what the truly poor have to deal with. So in closing, the book is what it says it is, but it's up to you where you draw the line of comfort and distance from traditional modern western ways. A 100 years ago the concept of comfort in the US was not the goal, now it is, we are expected to consume ourselves into the highest of comfort zones. Nicaragua has every comfort zone imaginable, from nothing more than a peice of tin over your dirt floored shack on up. The possibilities are yours !!!

Re: Living Like a Nica

Great Commentary Vampirebat. It is funny how people do change throughout their lives, whether by design or circumstances. I seen myself as a yuppie at one time, wanting all the best things produced, and the first to get them. Now I think of myself living a simple life, where personal relationships and happiness in health are more important. I have had money and been broke. I cannot believe that there is not much difference. I am still me. The people that are important to me don't care if I have money or not. Everyone still wants stuff, but it is not the most important thing.

Re: Living Like a Nica

Randy is correct! The older we get the less complicated we become, When I go back to Nicaland I plan to buy property with lots of trees, I yearn the day when I wake up in the morning and I'm sitting in a Nica Rocking chair, the breeze blowing and the birds chirping and you're in a nice garden in a country that is far from perfect but Perfect moments are plentiful.

Re: Living Like a Nica

Originally Posted by El Greco

Randy is correct! The older we get the less complicated we become, When I go back to Nicaland I plan to buy property with lots of trees, I yearn the day when I wake up in the morning and I'm sitting in a Nica Rocking chair, the breeze blowing and the birds chirping and you're in a nice garden in a country that is far from perfect but Perfect moments are plentiful.

Re: Living Like a Nica

In the coming days I will sit down and write a little on the subject.

Trust me, few Nicas eat tofu, brown rice or black beans, nor are they looking for where to buy them, even fewer Nicas own several vehicles and multiple pieces of real estate. Fyl's perspective is skewed at best. I bought and read the book the minute it came out years ago.

I am not saying the info is bad, but I have a hard time learning how to live like a Nica from someone building igloos.

‎"You know what you say when people tell you you can't do something? Fool, shut your mouth up!"
Ernie K Doe

Re: Living Like a Nica

Originally Posted by cookshow

In the coming days I will sit down and write a little on the subject.

Trust me, few Nicas eat tofu, brown rice or black beans, nor are they looking for where to buy them, even fewer Nicas own several vehicles and multiple pieces of real estate. Fyl's perspective is skewed at best. I bought and read the book the minute it came out years ago.

I am not saying the info is bad, but I have a hard time learning how to live like a Nica from someone building igloos.

Re: Living Like a Nica

Jonh hit it on the head when he said Living like a Nica could mean living like a Pellas or a Campesino.

I don't think many people could move here and live on a few dollars a day, I certainly couldn't when I first moved here. I am lucky that I have enough land to produce a fair amount of food.

My electricity runs around 15 cords a day, most of that being the fridge and the fan I run at night (electric is more expensive here than on the Main). Internet runs around 22 cords a day. Cooking gas around 8 cords a day. Right there is 45 cords (approx $2 US).

Internet is a luxury, electricity is not far behind. I could probably live without the fridge, but the fan at night would be hard to give up. Depending on where you live you could gather firewood to cook with.

You gotta eat and this is the killer, food prices (especially beans) have doubled and in some cases tripled in the 4 years I have been here. 18 month ago 10 cords would buy me almost a quart of boiled beans, now it buys half that. I know it can be done, but it would be hard to eat on less than 10 cords a day.

Chicken cost 25 cords a #, beef and pork 40-50 cords a #. I don't eat that much meat because I get tired of eating chicken. I just brought back some nice meats from MGA and they can probably last me a few months if I ration them. Last week a neighbor killed a pig and I bought some, I buy very little beef, maybe a pound or so every other month. Seafood is always a possibility here and can be bought pretty cheap.

Dog food cost 15-22 cords a # here, 3 # a day along with meat and bones I buy to feed my dogs. I figured a while back that between food and medications my big dog cost me around $1,000 a year.

I don't think it is realistic to believe that you can live on less than $5 a day, and that does not include housing. I know plenty of entire families here that live on less per day but I just don't think a "Gringo" can step into that life, maybe with time.

‎"You know what you say when people tell you you can't do something? Fool, shut your mouth up!"
Ernie K Doe

Re: Living Like a Nica

My interest in living in a different country started about 10 years ago.. guessing. I had become disillusioned with American life. I would get up every morning and start off with coffee and the news. The local news would show unbearable traffic and the lady would say that there is a chance of rain so I better wear a jacket and carry an umbrella. I get on the freeway and see standstill traffic of people in expensive cars. It would take, at the very least, an hour to go 30 miles. On the radio they say that they need to raise taxes or the government will have to cut services. The parking lot at work is like a fashion show of cars. The next day is the same and it repeats itself over and over and over.

I read books about people that just let go of the US way of life and it is inviting. People living in Thailand, Mexico, or Costa Rica. People that just walked away from the American train wreck. I read that Costa Rica is a land full of people that aren't wanted there, but wanted by the law in their country of origin. Some folks are retiring in these countries because they have a pretty nice climate, and they are cheaper to live than in the US. But with this cheaper lifestyle comes some sacrifices. Electronics are taxed heavily, petty crime is high, and if you want to live cheaply you have to pretty much live like the locals. To maintain the same style of living in these places becomes almost as expensive as the US, you have to have round the clock security and you are away from your family. For many this about the time the fantasy ends.

Re: Living Like a Nica

I have been living here in Nic full time now for 10 months and had this discussion many times with other expatriates. To live down here could and is at time more expensive but not for everything. The cost of gasoline is the same if not more expensive especially outside of Managua by as much as 5 Cord. or a $.22 a liter more. There is no such thing as returning merchandise if it is not what you want or if it is defective so have everything checked and rechecked, measure and remeasure. Buyer beware. The cost of spoiled food in refrigerator and or freezer when the power has gone off for extended periods of time. Or you could opted for a generator. A small one would run you as much as $1,500.00 plus gas and has to be located where it is not likely to get stolen. I have spent a small fortune just on locks and keys for every door, closet and cabinet. The cost of replacing sensitive electronics. that list is way too long, due to brown outs (not full outages but only when the power flashes off and then on again with a surge), most damaging. Replacing just about anything that you can think of due to petty theft, hand tools, construction materials, this too is an endless list. If you have hired help add the willful destruction of property as well as routine liberation of property. Living like a poor Nica is easy but living like a middle class Nica priceless.

Re: Living Like a Nica

Originally Posted by Jonh

The thing to remember is that not all Nicas are dirt poor. You can live like a middle class Nica or like a Pellas if you want to.

I find that I'm quite comfortable living like lower middle class to middle class Nicaraguans. I don't have a washing machine or a television, but I do have a computer. Coffee money got my neighbors a truck this year; I don't have a car. Otherwise, our material lifestyles are about the same -- blender, refrigerator, cooktops. She does have a microwave -- I may get one later.

People will be happier and fit in better if they live like their neighbors -- and if those neighbors aren't too far from what they were like in the US. People who've never lived poor in the US are going to have a double shock trying to live poorer here.

I think people don't realize that being able to live poor skillfully is as much as set of learned skills as being able to make enough money to live very well. Leave being poor to people who know how to do it.

Re: Living Like a Nica

Originally Posted by Jonh

Well said. It takes a lot of work, and a total change in mind-set to live poor.

You said a mouthful.

It does take a lot of work, but it gets easier the longer you do it. A little splurge now and then helps the sanity as well. Yesterday I bought a 5# frozen whole chicken, smoked it and ate it all between 4 adults and 2 children. The same chicken could have easily made 3 or more meals for the same crowd.

‎"You know what you say when people tell you you can't do something? Fool, shut your mouth up!"
Ernie K Doe

Re: Living Like a Nica

I will preface my response by saying that I feel obliged to use some famous quotes here, but I will refrain from using any from Harrison Ford as I have done before. Although I am sure Mr. Ford has made some comments regarding the topic of happiness. I think randude's statement that "The people that are important to me don't care if I have money or not. Everyone still wants stuff, but it is not the most important thing." Stuff makes life easier, but not necessarily happier. I just turned 36 in July, and I look back on my life and think that I am certainly not where I expected I would be when I was growing up. On those days when I feel particularly unhappy I think of a famous quote by Groucho Marx that goes "Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." I think we're as happy as we make our mind up to be on most days. Since I have experienced human loss in an acute way, I am all too aware of the fact that we must seize each day we have on this Earth.

Actually writing on this website puts a smile on my face because I sense a great deal of camaraderie and support. Many people have commented on making the move to Nicaragua in order to pursue happiness...sort of the grass is greener on the other side of the fence effect. Well there is a little something to that...Mark Twain commented that "Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination." Sometimes we have to do something a little crazy and just go for it, breaking out of the mold to find happiness in unique ways. Moving to Nicaragua, in many respects, is a bold move.

For me, it all comes down to the people that matter the most to me as randude pointed out. I have contemplated making that big move to Nica...not to see whether or not I can live on $2 a day...but to be closer to dear friends that make life meaningful to me. And at the risk of getting a bunch of "oh no, not again" comments, I wanted to tell everyone that Dr. McCrary, his volunteers and staff were all evicted in an underhanded move yesterday at Laguna de Apoyo. Despite the fact that everything he owns is much wetter today, Dr. McCrary is hanging in there. Buddha said "Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others." In my opinion it is sad that there has been a tremendous disruption of work being done by a peaceful and happy group conducting research.

I don't know how many dollars a day Dr. McCrary lives on, but I have observed he has few personal possessions, eats simply and indulges himself almost never. As a Ph.D. in chemical engineering he could earn so much more in the United States; however, he chose to dedicate his life to the preservation of Lake Apoyo and remains steadfast in working towards this goal.

That is really all I have to say, but I have to agree with cookshow as well....I probably spend more on dog food than anything else! I love my dogs....and peanut butter too